November 2006

Published on November 30, 2006

Just Released…

Five Articles on the Health Workforce in the United States

The World Health Report of 2006 provided an expert assessment of the current crises in the global health workforce, with attention to the impacts of health worker migration on the health status of poor countries. The World Health Assembly requested that “Human Resources for Health” become a priority program area for the World Health Organization in the next decade. In recognition of growing international interest in the health workforce, The Centre de Sociologie et de Demographie Medicales (CDSM), a workforce research center in Paris, France, focused its quarterly journal to spotlight health workforce research around the world. The Center for Health Workforce Studies was invited to represent the U.S. and publish its work in the bilingual CDSM journal that was released in June 2006. The five papers prepared by the Center that appeared in the journal are:

U.S. Physician Workforce Forecasting: A Tale of Two States

Trends in Foreign-Trained Registered Nurses in the United States

Characteristics and Employment Patterns of Licensed Social Workers in the United States

The Impact of the Aging Population on the Health Workforce in the United States

This report provides state-level and national data on over 25 health professions and occupations, including estimated numbers of health workers, their distribution, and per capita ratios for comparing health workforce capacity between states, regions, and the nation overall. The profile is primarily graphic and uses maps, charts, and figures to provide a relatively comprehensive overview of the health workforce in the U.S. A list of key findings highlight some of the report’s most important points. Download report.

A Profile of New York’s Underrepresented Minority Physicians, 2006

A more racially and ethnically diverse physician workforce has the potential to reduce health care disparites and improve the quality of care for underserved residents of New York. This report examines the state’s physicians who are from racial and ethnic groups that are considered underrepresented in medicine and highlights the differences in their demographics and practice characteristics. The number of underrepresented minority (URM) physicians has not substantially increased over the past five years and remains far less than their proportion in the state’s population. New York’s URM physicians are younger and more likely to be female compared to all other physicians. In addition, they are more likely to practice in primary care specialties and serve more Medicaid patients. Download report.

Every two years, the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) publishes occupational and industry projections for employment in the U.S. in the coming decade. Projections by sector and by occupation for the period 2004 through 2014 were released in November 2005. The Center analyzed these projections and summarized the most significant findings related to health care employment. Health care continues to be the fastest growing employment sector in the country, with jobs in home care and physician offices projected to grow the fastest. Many new jobs will be available for registered nurses and aides. Demand for physicians, pharmacists, and dentists is also expected to grow. Download report.

Trends in Physician Supply and Demand in New York, 2000-2005

The Center surveys all physicians completing residency or fellowship training in New York. Survey responses for 2000 through 2005 were analyzed in order to identify trends in physician supply and demand. This report profiles findings for 35 physician specialties.While the overall job market appears to be good, there are different job market experiences for different specialties. Demand for non-generalist physicians (specialists) has been consistently stronger than demand for generalist physicians, but the gap between specialists and generalists has begun to close. Download report.

Other News…

Jean Moore, the Director of the Center, was named to a Technical Working Group on Health Workforce Statistics established by the World Health Organization (WHO). The group met in July to provide guidance to the WHO on developing a core set of health metrics that can be used internationally for monitoring the health workforce.

Tell us what you think…

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